Winning the 2026 AFF Women’s Cup was more than just a successful title defense for the Indonesia Women’s National Team. The triumph also secured Garuda Pertiwi’s return to Southeast Asia’s premier women’s football competition, the 2027 ASEAN Women’s Championship.
As champions of the region’s second-tier tournament, Indonesia secured one of the qualifying spots for next year’s ASEAN Women’s Championship, alongside Laos, who finished as runners-up, and Singapore, who claimed third place.
The three teams will join the top five finishers from the 2025 ASEAN Women’s Championship—Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Myanmar.
Securing qualification marks an important milestone in the resurgence of Indonesia’s women’s national team after being forced to return to the qualifying route.
At the 2025 ASEAN Women’s Championship, Indonesia entered the tournament as the reigning 2024 AFF Women’s Cup champions but failed to advance beyond the group stage, finishing seventh overall and losing their automatic qualification for the next edition.
Now, the squad coached by Satoru Mochizuki heads into the 2027 championship with far greater confidence.
In addition to successfully defending their title, Garuda Pertiwi demonstrated significantly improved attacking efficiency throughout the tournament.
Indonesia scored 10 goals in four matches, an improvement over the seven goals they netted en route to winning the 2024 edition.
Their attacking prowess was evident from the group stage, where they scored three goals, followed by two more against Singapore in the semifinals, before producing a five-goal performance in the final to bring the trophy home once again.
Defensively, Indonesia remained equally impressive.
Just as they had two years earlier, Garuda Pertiwi conceded only one goal throughout the tournament, with Cambodia once again being the only team to find the back of the net against them.
The team’s progress was also reflected in the balanced contributions from its players.
Estella Loupatty and Emily Nahon finished as the team’s joint top scorers with two goals each.
The remaining six goals were shared among Felicia de Zeeuw, Isabelle Nottet, Sheva Imut, Sydney Hopper, Gea Yumanda, and Remini Rumbewas.
This marked a contrast to the previous edition, when the team relied heavily on Reva Octaviani and Claudia Scheunemann for goals.
The greater variety in goalscoring has now become one of Garuda Pertiwi’s key strengths, making the team’s attacking play much more difficult for opponents to predict.
Isabelle Nottet, who was named Player of the Final, credited the team’s unity as the main factor behind Indonesia’s successful title defense in her first tournament representing the Red and White.
“I’m very proud of this team. This was my first tournament with Indonesia, and we were able to bring home the trophy right away. We achieved it together as a team. Everyone supported each other, and that’s what makes this group so special,” she said after the match on Wednesday evening, July 22, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Head coach Satoru Mochizuki admitted that defending the title was far more challenging than winning it for the first time.
According to the Japanese coach, the achievement was made possible by the players’ ability to understand and execute their respective roles within the team.
“I would like to thank all of the players and coaching staff. The players have excellent abilities, and our job is to help them maximize those abilities while building strong teamwork,” he said.
Despite once again emerging as champions at Southeast Asia’s second tier, Mochizuki stressed that the team’s work is far from complete.
He believes the squad must continue improving both its attacking and defensive performances before competing in the 2027 ASEAN Women’s Championship.
“We’ve told the players that our goal is not just to defend this title. We want to move to a higher level, achieve success in the next tournament, and continue improving Indonesia’s standing in international women’s football,” he added.***
